New Challenge, for Flash fans and others too

[krhorneman]

Alright, when I first started collecting Flash and coming here to comicbloc, it was right in the middle of the Rogue War, and this was one of the most lively spots on comicbloc. I know things have died down since, and a lot of people are unhappy with the latest story arc, so I thought I'd throw something out to give everyone an excuse to keep coming here. If this works, I have a few more ideas of stuff we can talk about, most of it is actually more interesting than this.

I listened to Geoff's wordballoon interview and he talked about someone who had been the writer on Flash for a long time, in the 70's and 80's. Do you guys know who he was talking about? I can't remember the name.

Anyway, my challenge to you guys is to figure out which writer and artist (and inker, colorist, letterer, whatever else you think is interesting) had the longest run on Flash, and what years and issues it covered. To make things more interesting, I'd also be curious if anyone knows or can find out which writers and artists have had the longest runs on other major books like Detective Comics, Action Comics, Superman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, or just pick your favorite character, and see what you can find out.

Here's hoping that excitement will pick up as we get some news eventually about the new series. As I mentioned above, I have some other stuff that I'd like to chat with you guys about if there are enough people still around. I just read most of Geoff's run on Flash and some earlier stuff too, and I have tons of comments and questions. Thought maybe you guys would enjoy some reminiscing. Let me know.

[Heatwave the Rogue]

Cary Bates is probably the Flash writer Geoff was refering to. I'm betting he's writen the most Flash stories of any Flash writer.

[DaveyD]

Cary Bates is probably the Flash writer Geoff was refering to. I'm betting he's writen the most Flash stories of any Flash writer.

Heatwave the Rogue

I'm gonna agree with Heat Wave on this one. If i'm not mistaken, Bates started writing Flash in the mid or late 60s, and wrote the book right on into the 80s.

I could be mistaken, but that's just trying to remember off the top of my head.

[Whealer]

Geoff probably referenced Cary Bates; but as for total number of Flash stories, I would bet Gardner Fox would be the winner if you take into account the Golden Age Flash. Of course it is pure speculation on my part.

[Kelson]

I can't believe I actually have the info to answer this, at least the writer part.

Counting Flash Comics (104 issues), All-Flash (32 issues), Comic Cavalcade (29 issues), the four Showcase issues introducing Barry, and Barry's entire run of The Flash (246 issues), and counting individual stories in All-Flash (which typically had 3 or 4 Flash stories at about 12 pages each, or longer stories with equivalent page length)...

182 stories by Gardner Fox
148 by John Broome
143 by Cary Bates
75 by Robert Kanigher
11 unknown, the rest scattered among a dozen or so other writers.

This is a mix of stuff I've looked up myself (complete Silver Age collection, a few Golden Age books and archives) and stuff I've found on http://www.comics.org/

I already had the info in a couple of spreadsheets; it's actually taken me longer to write this up than it took to get the numbers.

[MarcSlayton]

So we not including Flash Series 2

[Kelson]

Didn't have the stats as handy, plus no one comes close to Bates, Broome, or Fox.

Out of 230 regular issues, #0, #1/2, #1,000,000, 13 Annuals, 3 Secret Files, Iron Heights, Time Flies, Our Worlds At War, and DC First: Flash/Superman:

94 by Mark Waid (60 solo, 32 w/ Brian Augustyn, 1 w/ Michael Jan Friedman, 1 w/ Craig Boldman)
67 by Geoff Johns
50 by Willian Messner-Loebs
15 Mike Baron
12 Mark Millar (9 w/ Grant Morrison, 3 solo)

The rest is spread among 8 other writers (9 if you include Augustyn's 3 solos). I'd also have to look up the writers on the two 80-page giants and the Speed Force special.

Actually, Waid and Messner-Loebs both had substantial runs on Impulse, but I don't have the info on the entire run. IIRC it was round 25-30 pages for Waid, then Messner-Loebs took over until #49, at which point Todd Dezago wrote the book through to the end. So you can probably add about 25 to each of their totals and toss in 40 issues for Dezago.

[krhorneman]

Kelson, you definitely get the prize on writer. Approximately when did Gardner, Bates and Broome write?

Does anyone want to take a guess on artist, even if they don't have exact numbers? Or even just list some of the artists they've liked who have had long runs?

[Kelson]

Gardner Fox was *the* Flash writer during the Golden Age (1940-1949). Robert Kanigher wrote quite a bit in the last couple of years, and even John Broome did a couple of stories, but Gardner Fox defined the original Flash.

Broome and Kanigher were the main writers on the relaunch in 1956, and John Broome was the main writer until around 1970. Gardner Fox wrote the occasional story during Broome's run, also, including the classic "Flash of Two Worlds." Cary Bates took over as the regular writer around 1970 and continued through to the end of the series in 1985.

[DaveyD]

Kelson, you definitely get the prize on writer. Approximately when did Gardner, Bates and Broome write? Does anyone want to take a guess on artist, even if they don't have exact numbers? Or even just list some of the artists they've liked who have had long runs?

krhorneman

Carmine Infantino, considered by many as the definitive Flash artist, started drawing the Flash during Jay Garrick's series, as well as the launch of Barry in the late 50s, and drew it right through the late 60s, I believe. He then came on board again around the late 200s and continued until the series ended at 350.